Abubakar Tijani Sheriff, a 24 year-old Nigerian has been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for making an attempt to travel out of Nigeria with the sum of $7 million cash (N1.1 billion).

The man was said to be on a move to Dubai from Murtala Muhammed International airport, Lagos on Thursday.

After EFCC arrested him, he declared having only $4.5Million, but when he was searched, $7,049,444 was found on him.

Sheriff then confessed that he was a courier for 20 individuals who hired him to take the money for them to Dubai.

A statement from EFCC released by its spokesman Wilson Uwujaren yesterday said that:

“Investigations by the EFCC showed that Sheriff is a regular traveler and one of several couriers of illegal cash suspected to be proceeds of crime.”

“Travelers leaving the country are statutorily required to declare cash in excess of $10,000. However, under the provisions of the Money Laundering Act, it is not sufficient to declare excess cash; the onus is on the person making the declaration to explain the source of the excess cash and the reason for the export.”

He is currently in the custody of EFCC.

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